I appreciate the idea of leading a congregation through the liturgy of one's church in an explanatory way so as to make them feel more welcome and to simply assist them. If I had a congregation that was full of unchurched people, I would do at least a little of it for a while, especially being sure people knew where we were to be in the Prayer Book. But otherwise it is not a good idea.
To begin with, plenty of neighbourliness can be expressed as people help newcomers follow along. The priest need not do it.
Secondly, people should expect to have to "come up to speed" with a cultural phenomenon with which they are not familiar. They do in everything else.
But especially I do not think it should be done because of the destraction. A sanguine, talkative priest can wind up spending more time explaining what is being done than actually doing it.
I find a lot of this kind of problem in some presbyterian churches, by the way (to address my presbyterian friends). The different stages of the liturgy wind up being different opportunities to preach some mini-sermon on why we do this or that. You sit there, ready to, say, confess your sins, and you have to wait and wait until the minister is through chatting about it before you can do it and then, when you do, blink twice and it's over. Isn't instruction in the liturgy one of the things to be covered in the "inquirer's class"? If there are unchurched people in the congregation, let them ask what this or that is about instead of weighing the liturgy down with talk.
Brethren, just do the liturgy! It speaks for itself.
To begin with, plenty of neighbourliness can be expressed as people help newcomers follow along. The priest need not do it.
Secondly, people should expect to have to "come up to speed" with a cultural phenomenon with which they are not familiar. They do in everything else.
But especially I do not think it should be done because of the destraction. A sanguine, talkative priest can wind up spending more time explaining what is being done than actually doing it.
I find a lot of this kind of problem in some presbyterian churches, by the way (to address my presbyterian friends). The different stages of the liturgy wind up being different opportunities to preach some mini-sermon on why we do this or that. You sit there, ready to, say, confess your sins, and you have to wait and wait until the minister is through chatting about it before you can do it and then, when you do, blink twice and it's over. Isn't instruction in the liturgy one of the things to be covered in the "inquirer's class"? If there are unchurched people in the congregation, let them ask what this or that is about instead of weighing the liturgy down with talk.
Brethren, just do the liturgy! It speaks for itself.
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